Yellow Dot is a free program designed to help first responders provide life-saving medical attention during that first “golden hour” after a crash or other emergency. A Yellow Dot in the driver’s-side rear window of your vehicle will alert first responders that vital medical information is stored in the glove compartment.

The Sheriffs’ Association distributes free Yellow Dots to New Yorkers. Yellow Dots and forms are also available at the Southern Cayuga Ambulance building.

HOW YELLOW DOT WORKS

Complete both sides of the personal information card as fully as possible, in pencil. Attach a recent photo of yourself and place it in a visible location in your car’s glove compartment.

Complete one card for each person who regularly occupies the vehicle.

Place the Yellow Dot decal on the rear driver’s side window to alert first responders to look in the glove compartment for your medical information.

Update the card annually yourself or bring it to your annual medical check-up. If you sell your car, remove the Yellow Dot sticker.

USE YELLOW DOT AT HOME

A Yellow Dot kit can also be used to alert those who respond to an emergency in your home. Simply place a Yellow Dot decal on or beside your front door and place a completed card for each occupant in a clear plastic freezer bag and place in a visible location in the freezer compartment of your refrigerator.

Thanks to all who attended our workshop on End of Life Care and Advance Directives. The handouts from the workshop are always available from SCIA by request. Nicole Sedorus from the Cayuga County Office of the Aging joined us last night and shared more resources, including info about their upcoming Resource Fair on September 14, 2018.

Come enjoy a free informational training explaining the differences between Do Not Resuscitate, Medical Orders of Life Sustaining Treatment and Living Wills and Health Care Proxy, and their use in Pre-hospital care.

The Central New Your Regional Emergency Medical Services Council (CNYEMS) has selected Southern Cayuga Instant Aid, Inc. (SCIA) for the “EMS Agency of the Year” Award for the Central New York Region. SCIA was presented with the award at the CNYEMS Awards Ceremony on May 22, 2018 at AMR – Syracuse. Thanks to The Citizen for featuring SCIA in this article.

photo by Kevin Rivoli, The Citizen

About five years ago, Southern Cayuga Instant Aid, Inc. Ambulance was on the verge of going out of service.

A transformation took place, however, and SCIA was honored with Central New York’s Emergency Medical Services Agency award at the Regional Emergency Management Service Council’s annual awards banquet last Tuesday during EMS week. SCIA will be celebrating its 50th anniversary later this year.

Wendy Hoose said that her whole life, especially when she was told she couldn’t do something due to lack of training, she’s been pushing the envelope to pursue whatever “next level” was in front of her. She views her role serving as SCIA’s executive director and chief of operations in the same way.

“You’re only as good as your last call,” Hoose said, adding that perspective has helped SCIA “do a phenomenal turn around.”

Back in 2014, SCIA was missing a lot of calls and only covering about 60 percent of the region’s advance life support needs. Hoose said some calls were even cancelled on scene because another agency would already be transporting the person in need.

“We have changed everything around so we get out much faster and we have ALS,” Hoose said. Because ALS services are “very limited” in rural communities, Hoose said, the CNY REMSCO said that it was clear SCIA was the agency that should receive the EMS Agency award this year.

SCIA has been operating 24 hours a day every day of the year since fall of 2016 and always has someone certified to offer ALS available for calls. The agency is also adding three more local ALS certified staff and volunteers to the organization soon.

When Hoose first came to the organization five years ago she noticed that most of the ALS providers were not local.

“One of my thoughts was really to have an ambulance that serves the Southern Cayuga community, we need people from the Southern Cayuga community,” Hoose said. Soon the agency will have four local ALS providers.

“So we’re on the right trend. Which is one of the reasons why, I think, we were recognized is because having ALS in a local one-ambulance rig situation is actually getting rare,” Hoose said. “A lot of the crew is actually from the local community and that gives it a personal touch.”

New York state is losing three or four ambulance agencies every year, Hoose said, and a large number of ambulance services only offer basic life support services which means they have about one-third the training of an ALS person and they can’t intubate, start IVs or administer medications.

Since October, SCIA — with a combination of paid and volunteer staff — has not missed a primary call in its district and was able to cover 96 percent of its calls with in-house ALS providers.

Currently, SCIA is a paramedic level ambulance that primarily serves Genoa, Scipio, Venice and portions of Ledyard. Hoose said the main service provided is emergency transports, and even though the ambulance gets called about once a day, they average 240 hospital transports in a year. While most ambulances have a five or 10-minute transport time to a hospital, Hoose explained that SCIA’s current average transport time is 36 minutes due to its rural location, which is one reason ALS is so important to their agency.

About 70 percent of SCIA’s patients go to Auburn’s or Ithaca’s hospitals, while the other 30 percent to to Syracuse’s Upstate University Hospital. Occasionally, a patient will be transported to Cortland Memorial Hospital.

When SCIA was birthed nearly 50 years ago in 1968, in response to a news article that explained how many people were dying due to not getting to emergency rooms fast enough, Hoose explained, the organization was actually known as the Poplar Ridge ambulance since it sprung out of the municipality’s fire department.

Then, in the 1990s, a disagreement with the Poplar Ridge fire department caused a split which resulted in the formation of SCIA.

“But we’re friendly with them now,” Hoose laughed, adding that Poplar Ridge actually submitted a supporting nomination for the agency to receive the regional EMS Award this year.

Since the beginning, Hoose guessed that SCIA is on its seventh ambulance, describing the agency’s current rig as “a Frankenstein.” She said the rig’s chassis was destroyed in a “traumatic” accident on a call last year, so now SCIA’s ambulance has a 2017 chassis but the main box is still from 2014.

As an organization, Hoose said SCIA also offers annual learning opportunities on health-related practices to staff and is also in the process getting certified to offer in-house recertification for EMT or ALS providers.

“You always have to strive to maintain your skills because everybody is counting on you to do your best for them and they deserve it,” Hoose said.

Hoose also stressed that SCIA is there to serve the community and implored people: “do not wait until the last minute … for anything, if you’re just not feeling right, especially if you’re alone, just give us a call and we can check you out.”

Southern Cayuga Instant Aid values its EMS practitioners and all staff this week and always for their dedication to providing excellent care to the community. We recognize them for their ability to remain calm in the midst of chaos, for their willingness to be constantly learning and upgrading skills and their commitment to the people they serve. During EMS Week, we hope you will join us in thanking them for all they do.

The Southern Cayuga community has lost two former fire chiefs this week: Mickey Piechuta of the King Ferry Fire Department and Bruce Culver of the Poplar Ridge Fire Company. Bruce was also a volunteer with Southern Cayuga Instant Aid back when it was Poplar Ridge Instant Aid. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of these dedicated men.